The exterior of a building can be modified with an awning, trellis, canopy, outdoor dining cover, sunshade or overhang structure to provide the building with additional exterior coverage as well as protection for windows and persons passing into and out of the building. The awning, trellis, canopy, outdoor dining cover, sunshade or overhang can provide additional shade to the building and to the area underneath the awning, trellis, canopy, outdoor dining cover, sunshade or overhang, as well as protection from the elements such as rain, snow, ice and sun. Canvas awnings that roll-up are popularly used for store fronts and restaurants, to provide shade, protection from the rain, and can be aesthetically appealing to consumers. Generally, a winding device is used to roll/fold these canvas awnings into place against the building front when the awning is no longer desired. These canvas awnings are not designed to withstand severe weather; heavy snow, rain or wind, and are more a decorative shade-providing device with limited durability. Canvas awnings have a short life and need frequent replacement.
However, some awnings are made from metal, such as aluminum, and are generally sturdier than the canvas awnings, and can also be folded away when no longer desired. These types of awnings generally slope away from the building such that any rain, snow or ice slides off the edge of the awning where it may fall onto visitors to the building or onto pavement where, in freezing weather conditions, ice may form creating a safety hazard. Further, these awnings generally have many parts, are time-consuming to install, and have aesthetically unpleasing exposed fasteners.
Some buildings can have a trellis, canopy, outdoor dining cover, sunshade or overhang attached to the side of the building. Oftentimes the trellis, canopy, outdoor dining cover, sunshade or overhang is attached to the side of the building and the roof of the trellis/overhang is supported by columns or posts. Others are supported by a series of turnbuckles or other structure which extends from an outer edge of the trellis diagonally to the side of the building above the trellis which may also utilized to level the trellis structure. Generally, the trellis comprises a number of flat panels made of metal, plastic or wood. Also, a trellis/overhang constructed with posts supporting the roof of the trellis/overhang is subject to cars and people running into the posts. The posts may be especially prone to be damaged if the trellis/overhang is attached to a business, such as a bank with a drive-up window. Drivers of cars may misjudge distances and damage the posts.
Aesthetically, the presence of diagonal turnbuckle supports may be aesthetically unpleasing or impractical in some applications. In some building designs the use of diagonal turnbuckle supports may be limited because the building has limited or non-existent points available for attachment of the upper end of the support.
Trellises can be built on the basis of a cantilever. However, this requires a beam that extends into the building twice the distance of the external extension. In many building designs this is impractical.
Accordingly, there is still room for improvement in a trellises, awnings or overhangs.